Contact 13 Investigates: Foreclosed but not forgotten

Contact 13 Investigates: Foreclosed but not forgotten

Linda and Mike Cirillo are seeing their old house for the first time in years.

"Wow!" Linda says as she walks up to the front door. "They've been here."

The "they" she's talking about is Bank of America.

And it's obvious they have been here tacking notice after notice on the door announcing the foreclosure of the property.

But this is not how Linda remembers her dream house.

"We got married and our dream was to come out here and make a life for ourselves. And so, we were gonna be homeowners and own our first home and have a good life together," she says, fighting back tears.

The dream started to sour quickly when they were hit with job loss and some medical issues.

"And I called the bank to tell them I couldn't make the payment and at that time they told me to wait three months, and I called them back and said, but I don't want to be late on my payments. I want to work with you."

But she says the bank wouldn't work with them.

In February, 2008 B of A started foreclosure proceedings and sent the Cirillos a notice that they'd set a sale date.

"We decided to go ahead and move before that because we didn't want to have to deal with waiting for that to happen and people pounding on our door and telling us to pack and move."

So on June 12, 2008, they moved out, having no idea their name would stay behind.

"It's financially ruined us. Our credit rating... they report us as being delinquent every month so our credit rating is completely gone. It's made it very difficult for us to do anything."

B of A has set eight sale dates on the Cirillo's home over the last three years.

The most recent note says, "Your home will sell on February 3rd at 10:00 a.m."

But like all the others, the date came and went, but the house never changed hands.

In the meantime, the Cirillos are being pursued from all angles.

For starters, there's the HOA.

"They're fining us--I believe it's every 14 days--for everything that we're not doing. They're fining us for lack of paying dues, for the fact that our landscaping is dying, we're not taking care of the house."

The latest statement shows they owe $7,750 on a house they haven't lived in for nearly three years.

Then there's the $587 the City of Las Vegas is trying to collect from them for sewer fees, despite the fact that no one's flushing any toilets or using any drains over there.

Also...

"We had a pool and there was some water sitting in the bottom of the pool so the Health Department attached a lien to the property."

That one was for $127 dollars, and then there's hazard insurance B of A took out on the home at the Cirillo's expense.

The bill?

Almost $4,000.

"So this is a dark cloud that you guys just can't seem to get out from under?" asked Contact 13 Chief Investigator Darcy Spears.

"Apparently not," Linda says, shaking her head.

When we went back to the house with Mike and Linda, we found a place full of ironies.

Perhaps the most bitter irony is the fact that the Cirillo's can't get their name off a house that they can't even get into.

That's because B of A changed the front door lock.

But around back, the place is literally wide open.

The door frame lays smashed on the kitchen floor and most every window is shattered.

We found a card Metro left there last October after vandals struck... all at a place it seems the bank has abandoned, even though the Cirillos can't.

"We would just like to have our name detached from the property and we would just like to move on with our lives."

B of A won't take their names off the house.

They say they can't because they have to go through the entire foreclosure process up to and including a final sale to a new owner.

"We will never buy a house--we will never do business with Bank of America ever again."

Bank of America blames the Cirillos for all the delays, citing "workout assistance requests and a reinstatement request."

Linda says that's a bunch of hogwash, because if they even thought there was any hope of getting help, they never would have moved out to begin with.

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